Hadeshom-if, indeed, they were going at all. The subject of
what was to happen next was being carefully avoided. Par had
made up his own mind, but had not yet told the others. They,
of course, were waiting to hear from him. While they played at
this game of cat-and-mouse, they finished breakfast and decided
to go along with Morgan’s suggestion and scout the valley one
more time. It gave them something to do while they considered
the implications of Walker Boh’s decision. Tomorrow morning
would be time enough to make any decisions of their own.
So they went back to the clearing where Par had met with
Walker and the moor cat the previous night and began a second
search, agreeing to meet back at the cottage by late afternoon.
Steff and Teel formed one group. Par and Coil a second, and
Morgan went alone. The day was warm and filled with sunshine,
and a light breeze blew down out of the distant mountains. Steff
scoured the clearing for signs of any sort and found nothing-
not even the tracks of the cat. Par had a feeling that it was going
to be a long day.
He walked east with Coil after parting from the others, his
mind crowding with thoughts of what he should say to his
brother. A mix of emotions worked their way through him, and
he found it difficult to sort them out. He ambled along half-
heartedly, conscious of Coil watching him from time to time,
but avoiding his gaze. After they had wandered through several
dozen clearings and forded half that many streams without
coming on even a trace of Walker Boh, Par called a halt.
“This is a waste of time,” he announced, a hint of exasper-
ation creeping into his voice. “We’re not going to find any-
thing.”
“I don’t imagine we are,” Coil replied.
Par turned to him, and they faced each other silently for a
moment. “I have decided to go on to the Hadeshom, Coil. It
doesn’t matter what Walker does; it only matters what I do. I
have to go.”
Coil nodded. “I know.” Then he smiled. “Par, I haven’t
been your brother all these years without learning something
about the way you think. The moment you told me that Walker
had said he would have nothing to do with the matter, I knew
you’d decided you would. That’s the way it is with you. You’re
like a dog with a bone in its teeth-you can’t let go.”
“I suppose that’s the way it seems sometimes, doesn’t it?”
Par shook his head wearily and moved over to a patch of shade
beneath an old hickory. He turned his back to the trunk and slid
to the ground. Coil joined him. They sat staring out at the empty
woodlands. “I admit that I made the decision pretty much the
way you describe it. I just couldn’t accept Walker’s position.
Truth is. Coil, I couldn’t even understand it. I was so upset, I
didn’t even think to ask him whether he believed the dreams
were real or not.”
“Not consciously, perhaps-but you thought about it. And
you decided at some point it wasn’t necessary. Walker said that
he’d had the same dreams as you. He told you the old man had
come to him just as he did to us. He admitted the old man was
Cogline. He didn’t dispute any of it. He simply said he didn’t
want to become involved. The implication is that he believes the
dreams are real-otherwise, there wouldn’t be anything to get
involved with.”
Par’s jaw tightened. “I don’t understand it, Coil. That was
Walker I spoke with last night; I know it was. But he didn’t talk
like Walker. All that business about not becoming involved,
about his decision to separate himself from the Races, and to
live out here like a hermit. Something’s not right; I can feel it!
He wasn’t telling me everything. He kept talking about how the
Druids kept secrets from the Ohmsfords, but he was doing the
same thing with me! He was hiding something!”
Coil looked unconvinced. “Why would he do that?”
Par shook his head. “I don’t know. I just sense it.” He looked